Day 21 Whether in Life or Death We Live For Christ
If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. Romans 14:8,9
Seeing Christ as central in my beliefs and their outworking applies to every situation. ‘For none of us lives for himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If (while) we live, we live for the Lord; and if (when) we die, we die for the Lord’ (14:7,8). While we continue to live on earth all parts of believers’ lives (thoughts, actions, ambitions, decisions) are to be engaged in with a view to what pleases God.
When Paul says ‘we die for the Lord’ he probably has in mind the fact that the circumstances of the believer’s death, as of his life, are not determined by his own will or thinking of his own interests, but are wholly in the hands of God who sets the time for death in accordance with His own purposes.
‘So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord’’ (14:8). Not only does the believer ‘live’ and ‘die’ God’s way but in both life and death, he or she belongs to the Lord. Our union with Christ with all its benefits that the believer enjoys in this life will continue after death with an even fuller measure of blessing (cf. 8:18).
‘For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living’ (14:9). Whether we live or die we ‘belong to the Lord’ because it was for this very reason that Christ ‘died and returned to life’, to be Lord of both the dead and the living. Paul is reminding the Roman Christians of a well-known truth: ‘And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again’ (2 Corinthians 5:15). Christ’s death should stimulate Christians to live for Him and not for themselves. It is Christ’s death and resurrection together that establish His lordship over all people, especially here Christians, whether they are living or dead. Paul’s focus is on the unique exercise of ‘kingdom’ power and rule that were established through (and only through) His death and resurrection, and the appropriation of the benefits of those acts by Christians through faith.
Because Jesus is our Lord, we must live for Him and because Jesus is Lord of every other Christian, we must respect that relationship.